(a) Watts (2010) discusses the question, “Are accountants the last hope for the world’s...

(a) Watts (2010) discusses the question, “Are accountants the last hope for the world’s ecosystems?”

(b) According to Adams (2014), “Whilst accountants might not be willing or able to “save the world”…if we (or those other accountants) are part of the problem, how will it be saved without our (or their) involvement?” (Cited in Gleeson-White, 2014, p.279)

(c) According to Gleeson-White (2014, pp.217, pp.281-2), “There is a logical inconsistency here: integrated reporting might be the beginning of a new accounting paradigm, but for the moment it is being practiced by an old-paradigm corporation: essentially, one obliged to make a return on financial capital at the cost of the other capitals. This was made clear by investors, who would not accept lower profit in exchange for clearing up local waterways or maintaining staff levels through an economic downturn. Of course, in this era of the universal investor, these institutional investors represent all of us-or those of us with investments in pension funds, superannuation schemes and equity markets generally. So the question then becomes, are we prepared to accept a lower return on our money for the sake of the health of our societies and the planet?

…The six capitals model is a powerful way of asking corporations to consider their impact on their social and natural environments only so recently accepted as being inextricably linked to their commerce after all. So it does give business the option of responding to the problem of externalities, and within this frame the pioneering work of Puma’s environmental profit and loss account has made a start on accounting for nature. Integrated reporting is, as its advocates say, an idea whose time has come.

But there is a logical inconsistency at the heart of the six capitals model which will prevent it alone from saving the planet: it seeks to account for nonfinancial value but can see it only in terms of financial value. This is because the entity it seeks to govern, the corporation as we know it, is legally bound to make decisions in favour of financial capital...Although these cutting-edge accountants have conceived a new-paradigm accounting scheme to measure the new invisible wealth generated by the information age and the sustainability information required for our era of environmental distress, they are nevertheless applying it to an old-paradigm corporation, one rooted in the industrial era, when financial measures captured most of the value that counted and profit ruled supreme...

(d)According to Sikka (2008, p.291), “The burgeoning corporate social responsibility literature rarely focuses on the anti-social practices of accounting firms…Accountancy firms are on a collision course with civil society”.

Discuss the issues raised in the above excerpts. Include your view on the role that the accounting profession can play in the demonstration of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development. Also, identify any problems, challenges and opportunities that the profession may encounter in this process.

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